Steviva Blend

The Steviva company recently sent me samples of their three natural sugar-free sweetener products. So far I've only tried one, their Steviva Blend; I thought I should tell you about it.

Steviva Blend is a combination of erythritol and stevia extract powder. I like erythritol; it helps add some of the textures of sugar to dishes, yet it has the lowest absorption profile of any of the polyols (sugar alcohols,) and therefore the least blood sugar impact. I don't bother counting any carb grams from erythritol; by contrast I count half of maltitol. Too, erythritol has the least gastric effect of any of the polyols; I don't notice any gas or bloating at all.

But erythritol is slightly less sweet than sugar, so if you use it straight you either have to use a little extra or combine it with another sweetener. Since erythritol in concentration creates a cooling sensation on the tongue, combining it with other sweeteners to increase the sweetness level is a useful approach. Steviva Blend is twice as sweet as sugar, and therefore also twice as sweet as granular sucralose (the Splenda and Splenda-knockoffs that come in the big yellow bag); this is important to keep in mind while using it.

I often have combined erythritol with Splenda, but there are many people who want an "all natural" sweetener. Whether this is a guarantee of increased safety is a different question, the point is that there is a market for such sweeteners. As a result, we've seen a number of erythritol/stevia blends hitting the market. The best-known is probably Truvia, but there is also PureVia and some others. I can get Truvia in my local grocery, but haven't done a lot with it, because it comes in teeny packets, and I don't want to spend the time ripping them open.

However, the Steviva Blend came in a bulk sack with a resealable zipper closure, so I've been using it. I've tried it in cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, some slow cooker dishes, and have to say I think it's quite good. I'm not a huge fan of stevia; it tends to have a bitter edge that has ruined more than one dish for me -- it was vile in teriyaki sauce, and the chocolate cheesecake was inedible. But I haven't had a single bad result with Steviva Blend yet.

So I was thinking maybe I'd buy some, now that I'm more than halfway through the free bag I was sent. I looked it up online, and was stunned to discover that on sale Steviva Blend runs $100 for ten pounds. Okay, $99, but there's shipping, too. That's $10 a pound! I don't know about you, but at that price it doesn't matter how good Steviva is. I simply can't afford it.

On the other hand, a little quick googling turned up straight erythritol for half that price. Steviva sent me a jar of their unblended stevia powder; I may try making my own blend. If that works out, I'll let you know how I did it.

In the meanwhile, I can certainly recommend Steviva Blend for those who are nervous enough about artificial sweeteners to make it worth the price.